Pioneers power-play breakthrough decides Frozen Four
COLUMBUS, OHIO — DenverÂ’s consistency is what got the Pioneers to the Frozen Four, but the Pioneers changed formulas to win their second straight NCAA hockey championship. Oh they remained consistent all right, and in fact reinforced their strengths, but they also obliterated a couple of weaknesses during a weekend culminated by Saturday nightÂ’s 4-1 title-game victory over North Dakota – the “other†hottest team in collegiate hockey.
DenverÂ’s strengths included a solid corps of high-character veterans blended artfully by coach George Gwozdecky with a premier crop of skilled freshmen, with a dominant combination of strong goal-scoring, big and solid two-way defensemen and exceptional goaltending. ThatÂ’s a pretty compelling explanation for a 32-9-2 season record.
Those strengths were highlighted when the final game scoring was handled by veterans Jeff Drummond, one of seven seniors, who scored the first goal, and junior first-line center Gabe Gauthier – a likely candidate to be next year’s captain – who scored the final goal after setting up the first one, while freshman Paul Stastny scored the other two goals and assisted on Gauthier’s empty-net tally. At the other end of the Value City rink at Schottenstein Center, freshman goaltender Peter Mannino was more dominant, making 44 saves to make the final game score look more lopsided than it was, considering North Dakota outshot the Pioneers 45-24.
The Pioneers assets were sufficient to obscure a weakness on the power play, even while Denver was winning a share of the MacNaughton Cup for the WCHA regular-season title, capturing the Broadmoor Trophy for the WCHA Final Five, and claiming the Northeast Regional NCAA berth in the Frozen Four. Entering the Frozen Four, Denver had scored 47 goals in 241 tries for a meager 19.5 percent effectiveness. But the Pioneers erupted to go 8-for-18 on power plays at the Frozen Four — a sizzling 44-percent, including all the goals in the 6-2 semifinal victory over CC, and two of the four in the 4-1 championship game against North Dakota.
That means Denver scored 15 percent of its 43-game total of 55 power-play goals in the final two games, vaulting transforming a 19.5-percent weakness to 44.4-percent efficiency against two of the best penalty-killing teams in the nation. The suddenly aroused power play was decisive for the Pioneers, because Colorado College limited them to only 11 of their 29 shots at even strength shots, and North Dakota held the Pioneers to 12 even-strength shots in 24 total shots on goal in the final.
Furthermore, while itÂ’s both easy and superficial to automatically name the tournament winning goaltender as most valuable player, in this case, Mannino deserved the accolades. While the Pioneers had numerous outstanding performances, the freshman goalie from Farmington Hills, Mich., made 41 saves while Colorado College outshot Denver in the 6-2 semifinal victory before making a season-high 44 saves in the 4-1 final.
Mannino came into the Frozen Four with a 2.39 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage, then, while playing both games of a weekend for the first time all season, he stopped 83 of 86 shots, for a 1.50 goals-against and a .965 save percentage. That improved his already-strong season to a 2.22 goals-against record and a WCHA-best .927 save percentage.
Among other statistical achievements earned by their Frozen Four exploits, Denver’s Matt Carle and Brett Skinner solidified their status as the1-2 scorers among defenseman, with the sophomore Carle getting a goal and two assists against CC and another assist against UND for a season total of 13-31—44 tally, while Skinner had four assists against CC, and while failing to score in the final game, he had good reason, continuing to play solidly after having his shoulder separated on the first shift, to finish 4-35—39.
Stastny, with his two goals and an assist gained by a respectful pass to Gauthier instead of trying for a hat trick against an empty net, finished 17-28—45 to catch Wisconsin’s Joe Pavelski as the top-scoring WCHA freshman.
StastnyÂ’s name gives him away. On paper, heÂ’s a young man who was born in Quebec City, but thatÂ’s because his home moved to where his father – NHL superstar Peter Stastny – was located. In this high-tech, ultra-stiff composite hockey stick era Stastny might be the only player in Division 1 college hockey – to say nothing of elite high school, or even Bantam or Peewee hockey — who still uses a wooden stick.
“IÂ’ve been using a wooden stick for the last six years, the same pattern my dad used,†Stastny said. “I suppose now IÂ’ll take this stick and throw it in the basement with all the other souvenir sticks weÂ’ve saved.Ââ€
That stick stroked a one-timer off Carle’s perfect pass across the slot to make it 3-1 on a Pioneer power play in the third period. It was a crucial goal in the outcome, obviously, although Stastny’s first goal – the game-winner to break a 1-1 tie midway through the second period, and also on the power play – was supremely important, if less artistic. That came when Kevin Ulanski’s shot from inside right point hit Stastny in the rear end and deflected past Jordan Parise. Presumably, Stastny won’t save his breezers amid those wooden sticks.
After the game, Gwozdecky maintained his usually poised demeanor, but he hesitated several times answering media questions, and despite his countenance, it was obvious he had to fight to hold his emotions. He talked about the pressure of expectations as defending champion all season, and about his teamÂ’s great leadership, from one end to the other.
He singled out a couple of special players, in senior defenseman Matt Laatsch, the captain, and junior defenseman Brett Skinner.
“Skinner was rammed hard into the end boards on the first shift of the game,†Gwozdecky said. “He separated his shoulder, and the doctors looked at him. He came back and played, maybe his best game as a Pioneer.Ââ€
As for Laatsch, the captain, a 6-foot-3, 205-pounder from Lakeville, Minn., Gwozdecky said he embodied everything a coach could ask for, and more. “Laatsch came in as a walk-on, had to go through a lot to play, then had a horrible infection that affected his body after duodenal ulcer surgery,†Gwozdecky said. “Doctors said to forget about playing, that heÂ’d never play hockey again. He not only came back, he ended up as our captain, and he helped shoulder the burden of expectations for us all season.Ââ€
Denver became the fourth team in NCAA history to win back-to-back titles, and only Michigan has won three in a row. He attributed the Pioneers success to the rigors of survival in the WCHA.
“We had prepared for a very physical game,†Gwozdecky said. “I want to say what a great job North Dakota did; they gave us everything plus. The pressure they put on us, how hard they playedÂ…they brought out the best in usÂ…ThatÂ’s the way it is in the WCHA. All 10 teams work so hard, and I think we all make each other better. If you can survive the WCHA, youÂ’re ready for the playoffs.Ââ€
Burdens will double next season, but they will be far easier to deal with. True, the Pioneers lose those seven key seniors – first-goal scorer Jeff Drummond and Ulanski off the first line, tenacious Luke Fulghum off the second line, Jon Foster off the third line, and defensemen Laatsch, Jussi Halme and Nick Larson. Those seven accounted for 74 goals, led by 21 each from Fulghum and Foster.
But Gwozdecky started a unit on which four of the six were freshmen, and the returning Pioneers will be led by top scorer Gauthier (2133—54), the defensive duo of Carle and Skinner, and both Mannino and his season-long alternate Glenn Fisher. And while Gwozdecky credited assistants Steve Miller and Seth Apert for recruiting what he claims “may be the most effective freshman class I’ve ever had, either as coach or assistant coach,†there will be another strong freshman crop coming in.
“It will be a different team, and we’ll try to establish a new identity,†said Gwozdecky.
But it will be hard to disguise the new identity inside those DU jerseys. Two NCAA titles in a row, and only Michigan has ever won three straight…Hmmm…The 2006 NCAA Frozen Four will be at Bradley Center in Milwaukee. DonÂ’t be surprised if the Denver Pioneers are there with new challenges to conquer.
Irmen, ‘Import Line’ spark Gophers to WCHA lead
MINNEAPOLIS, MN. — The hottest team in the WCHA is the University of Minnesota, because of the hottest line in the league, which should be called the “Tourist Line,†or the “Import Line.Ââ€
The line, with two sophomores and a freshman, are all non-Minnesota natives, and they have scored almost exactly half the Gophers total goals for the season. It was Danny IrmenÂ’s turn to pull the trigger when the Gophers swept a crucial early-season series from Wisconsin, which turned out to be worth first place in the WCHA.
A sophomore right winger, Irmen scored on a penalty shot at 5:28 of the third period to break a 2-2 tie and give the Gophers a 3-2 opening victory, before 10,190 fans at Mariucci Arena. Gino Guyer had scored his first goal of the season at 0:11 of the third period to tie the game, and Irmen, who assisted on linemate Ryan Potulny’s ninth goal of the season to start the game, scored his fourth goal of the season on the penalty shot to win it, after he was hauled down from beind.
Irmen followed up by scoring two goals for the difference in a 4-2 Gopher victory in the rematch, before 10,587 – a crowd that not only was a record at Mariucci Arena, but also a Mariucci series record of 20,777 in a building busting at the seams with standing-room patrons. Irmen rapped the first goal of the game past superb Wisconsin goaltender Bernd Bruckler, igniting a 3-0 start. Midway through the second period Irmen, a right-hand shot, broke up the left side and drilled a one-timer off Tyler Hirsch’s perfect pass across the slot.
Irmen’s three goals and an assist gave him four points on the seven goals Minnesota scored, boosting his total to 6-7—13, which equals Ryan Potulny (9-4—13) for the team scoring lead as Minnesota moved to a 5-1 WCHA mark, 7-2 overall.
Irmen, who is from Fargo, N.D., plays on a line centered by Ryan Potulny, another sophomore, who is from Grand Forks, N.D., with Kris Chucko, a freshman from Burnaby, British Columbia, at left wing. The days when the University of Minnesota hockey team was composed entirely of homestate Minnesotans are long gone, although Irman and Potulny – clearly the offensive inspiration for the Gophers – are from just a long slapshot across the Red River, the border between Minnesota and North Dakota. The remaining nine forwards are all Minnesotans.
Potulny played high school hockey at Grand Forks Red River, and Irmen moved an hour north to join him, before both took off for Lincoln, Neb., where they finished high school while playing for the Lincoln Stars of the USHL. They led the Stars to the Clark Cup, played one more season there, then came to Minnesota together.
“When I came in, I wanted to be a go-to guy, but last year we had a lot of talent,†said Irmen. “This year, we have some talent too, but we donÂ’t take anything for granted.Ââ€
Opponents certainly can’t take the “Import Line†for granted, either. The Gophers have scored 35 goals in crafting their 7-2 record, and Irmen and Potulny have 15 of them. Toss in the two from freshman Chucko, and the line has accounted for 17 goals – almost exactly half of the total. The only other Gopher with as many as three goals is freshman defenseman Derek Peltier, who moved in smartly from the left point to score with a perfect pass from Gino Guyer, who followed up goals by Irmen and Peltier with a goal of his own for a 3-0 Minnesota lead in the first period.
The success of the rebuilding Gophers is further proof of the considerable storage of wealth of depth in the program, and it has even surprised coach Don Lucia.
“I did not anticipate we’d be sitting 7-2,†said Lucia, whose team lost a preseason tournament game 1-0 at Alaska-Anchorage, and dropped a 4-2 game at North Dakota before bouncing back for a split. Alaska-Anchorage did the Gophers a favor by sweeping previously unbeaten Minnesota-Duluth, stunning the Bulldogs while Minnesota streaked past for first place.
“When you lose great players, like we did from last yearÂ’s team, you hope you have more coming up, and so far, weÂ’ve been a great team,†Lucia added, emphasizing the word team. “Nobody cares who scores. IÂ’m happy where weÂ’re at right now, and itÂ’s a good time for us to have a break. We know weÂ’re not good enough to just show up and win, so everybodyÂ’s working, and weÂ’re putting points in the bank.Ââ€
Lucia admitted it took some transition time for Irmen and Potulny after their junior stardom at Lincoln. “The hardest thing for them was to come in last year when we had 12 forwards returning from an NCAA championship team,†he said. “They understood, they had to wait their turn.Ââ€
Potulny was injured, and played only 15 games a year ago, scoring six goals, while Irmen scored 14 goals as a freshman.
“Danny works so hard, I’d love to have eight wingers just like him,†said Lucia.
Guyer, a junior center who has been a willing team support player the last two years, admits he put pressure on himself to score this year, and pressing didnÂ’t help. Scoring a goal each game against Wisconsin helped break him loose, however, although, typically, he preferred to spread the credit around, singling out freshmen like Peltier, Alex Goligoski, and forwards Mike Howe and Brent Borgen.
“This team is not as skilled as last year, because we had an enormous amount of talent last year,†said Guyer. “WeÂ’re still highly talented, but we have a great work ethic this year. Everybody goes 100 miles per hour and works hard. I think a big part of our success is the freshman group weÂ’ve got. The freshmen come to the rink with a smile every day, and thatÂ’s contagious.Ââ€
Elliott’s ‘mini-shutout’ helps Badgers reach NCAA final
MILWAUKEE, WIS. — Wisconsin goaltender Brian Elliott had to settle for a “mini-shutout†Thursday, but he was at his best when the pressure was greatest and Wisconsin whipped Maine 5-2 in the second semifinal of the NCAA MenÂ’s Frozen Four hockey tournament. The victory gives Wisconsin a unique opportunity to duplicate the NCAA WomenÂ’s title that the Badgers already have in hand when they face Boston College Saturday at 7 p.m. for the menÂ’s national championship.
“When the women won the title, Mark Johnson said the ultimate winner was womenÂ’s hockey,†said Wisconsin coach Mike Eaves, a former star and co-conspirator with Johnson on a Badger NCAA championship team in 1977. “I think we could say that when we play Boston College Saturday night, the ultimate winner will be menÂ’s hockey, because it will be two tremendous teams playing and it should be a great game.Ââ€
The Badgers (29-10-3) will face Boston College, which outlasted North Dakota 6-5 in ThursdayÂ’s first semifinal. After the first game drew 17,637 to Bradley Center, the night game drew 17,691, and it was a raucous, Badger-backing gang that made the hour-long trek east from Madison to cheer for the Badgers from the time they hit the ice.
Elliott made 19 of his 32 saves in the second period, preventing the Black Bears from keeping pace, as the Badgers scored twice to break a 1-1 tie. For the game, Wisconsin got two goals and an assist from Robbie Earl, a goal and an assist each from Ross Carlson and Adam Burish, and possibly the key goal of the game from Bob Street to pull away from a 3-2 nail-biter.
“The Ben Street goal was huge,†said Eaves. “The game was like a three-act play. They played well at first and then we came on in the first period, then in the second and third periods, our big players came up big – Elliott, Robbie Earl, Ross Carlson, BurishÂ…Ââ€
Burish was first to take the spotlight, scoring midway through the first period. Burish had special reason to realize that a Badger title is almost mandatory to his family, because his sister, Nikki Burish, was a star on the Badger womenÂ’s team. “My sister said, ‘If you donÂ’t win this thing, IÂ’ll be one-up on you for the rest of your life,Â’ †Burish said. “Now we have one more left to win a championship. ThatÂ’s what we came here to do.Ââ€
Maine, however, tied it at 17:37 when Keith Johnson shot from the slot. Elliott went down to block it, and as Maine’s Keith Johnson loomed over him looking for a rebound, it was unnecessary, because the puck had found its way in already. The goal ended an amazing streak; Elliott had shut out Minnesota 4-0 in the third-place game of the WCHA Final Five, then blanked Bemidji State 4-0 in the first game of the Midwest Regional, and shut out Cornell 1-0 in three overtimes – almost two full games. The 270 minutes include an NCAA tournament record of 210 minutes. Elliott had gotten his game together after recovering from a knee injury to run up an 8-1 string, and he has given up only eight goals in the nine games, with five shutouts.
The goal didn’t seem to bother Elliot -– not based on his second period. Maine outshot Wisconsin 19-13 in the middle session, but the only goals came when Carlson and Earl connected. Carlson got the puck on the penalty kill and sped up the left side. With one defenseman retreating to cover, Johnson did a little hop-step to the slot, and drilled his shot past Maine’s freshman goaltender Ben Bishop at 4:18, to break the 1-1 tie. The 2-1 lead was hardly substantial, but with Elliott in goal, it was a good building block. Four minutes later, Earl carried up the right side and scored again, and it was 3-1.
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Elliott credited his teammates for blocking a lot of shots. His teammates donÂ’t need to compliment Elliott – it goes without saying. “People talk about how Dominik Hasek plays so well in practice as well as games,†said Eaves. “ThatÂ’s Brian, too. In practice, he doesnÂ’t want to let any in.Ââ€
Perhaps an even more impressive factor for the junior goalie who leads the nation in goals-against average (1.55) and save percentage (.938), and now has a 26-5-3 record for the season, is that when a rare goal does get by him, he remains unruffled, and rarely gives up another in close order.
At 11:19 of the third period, the Black Bears executed an impressive rush. Josh Soares carried in on the right side and left a behind-the-back pass for Greg Moore, who passed across the slot to Mike Lundin, and the junior defenseman stepped into his shot and scored, high right.
That cut WisconsinÂ’s lead to 3-2, but 57 seconds later, Street, a freshman center from British Columbia, carried up the right side and shot from the circle. Bishop blocked it, but after a teammate overskated the rebound, Street got to it. Then he whiffed on one shot, but chipped a follow-up backhand in. That one punctured MaineÂ’s attempt at generating momentum.
EarlÂ’s second goal was an empty-netter, but it couldnÂ’t have been prettier to the big crowd. With Bishop pulled for an extra attacker, Josh Engel flipped the puck ahead. Earl chased after it, and got to it barely in time to convert a wide-angle shot from the left side with 1:44 remaining.
For the game, Wisconsin outshot Maine 39-34.
“Now weÂ’ve got a chance to win the last game of the year,†said Eaves. “ThatÂ’s something weÂ’ve talked about since the first game of the year.Ââ€
Badgers rip Gophers 4-1 for Women’s WCHA playoff title
MINNEAPOLIS, MN. — The University of Wisconsin womenÂ’s hockey team has been breaking down the tradition that the WCHA is a two-team league, a dominance created over the WCHAÂ’s first six seasons by Minnesota and Minnesota-Duluth. The Badgers broke one barrier by winning the WCHA regular season title, and on Sunday, they broke through another one – whipping Minnesota 4-1 for the WCHA playoff championship.
“IÂ’m real excited for our players,†said WisconsinÂ’s coach-of-the-year Mark Johnson, whose Badgers lost a heartbreaker in the playoff final to Minnesota last year, after rallying for two goals in the final minute to tie the game 2-2. “Last year, we were very close, in a similar situation, but we were beaten in overtime. Any time you have the opportunity to win a championship, you go after it, and any time you do something for the first time, itÂ’s special.Ââ€
There is, of course, one further barricade up ahead. UMD won the first three NCAA women’s hockey championships, and Minnesota won the next two. All three teams – and the WCHA has at least become the “big three†by now – will enter the eight-team NCAA tournament starting this coming weekend. Wisconsin (33-4-1) will be at home against Mercyhurst on Saturday, Minnesota will be at home against Princeton on Friday, and UMD will be on the road at St. Lawrence Saturday.
The other NCAA pairing has Harvard at No. 1 ranked New Hampshire, with the four winners convening at Mariucci Arena for the NCAA WomenÂ’s Frozen Four.
Minnesota had won seven straight coming into the game, and even though the Gophers have now lost four out of five games to the Badgers, Gopher coach Laura Halldorson said she didnÂ’t think Wisconsin had a clear upper hand in the game. “Wisconsin has a very good team, and I congratulate them,†Halldorson said. “But the score was a little deceiving, because it didnÂ’t really feel like a 4-1 game. We outshot them 29-19, so we were really in the game.Ââ€
The Golden Gophers (27-10-1) had outshot UMD 39-21 while beating the Bulldogs 2-1 Saturday, and they outshot Wisconsin similarly, 21-11, on Sunday, but the Badgers handled the Ridder Arena crowd, announced as 1,012, and the shot-counter with the same poise they used to control the Gophers.
Wisconsin has a prominent offense, led by WCHA player of the year Sara Bauer, and it has a solid defense, led by Bobbi Jo Slusar, the WCHA defensive player of the year, and solid goaltending from senior Meghan Horras. Against the Gophers, the defensemen became offensive, scoring three of the four goals. The Badgers took a 2-1 lead in the first period, and resolutely added another goal in the second, and another in the third, while Bauer settled for three assists.
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Cyndy KenyonÂ’s goal at 5:14 of the first period was offset when MinnesotaÂ’s Allie Sanchez connect at 12:15. The Badgers reclaimed the lead when Slusar slid over to center-point and rifled a slap shot straight on from 55 feet past a screened Kim Hanlon. At that point, all three goals had come on power plays, and while Wisconsin was being outshot 15-5 at that moment, the Badgers led 2-1.
The pace was about even in the second period, although the Badgers killed their two penalties, and went ahead 3-1 when Emily Morris moved in deep from the blue line and smacked in a rebound even though she couldnÂ’t see the puck go in because a Minnesota defenseman was pretty well taking her out as she shot.
The Gophers needed a rally in the third period, but the Badgers held them to only five shots, and defenseman Meaghan Mikkelson strode in from the right point and scored from the top of the circle against relief goalie Brittony Chartier, who went in for the second and third periods after Hanlon twisted her ankle trying to prevent Nikki Burish from scoring at the right edge late in the first period.
While the Gophers solidified their home-ice spot in the NCAA with their victory over UMD, meaning the semifinal might have been the more important game of the weekend, but the players insisted it didn’t cause any letdown. “It doesn’t matter whether you’re playing one archrival in UMD or another in Wisconsin, mentally, when you’re playing for the championship, you go all out.
“Wisconsin moves the puck real well, and they banged a couple power-play goals in.Ââ€
Badger coach Johnson was a power-play specialist himself on NCAA championship Badger teams coached by his dad, Badger Bob Johnson, so he knows the importance of a successful power play.
“In the first period, Minnesota had more energy than we did, which didnÂ’t surprise me,†said Johnson. “TheyÂ’re in their own building, with their own fans, and they won a tough game against UMD. They had some good chances, and Meghan came up with the saves, and we came out of the first period ahead 2-1. At this time of the year, you look for your special teams to be pretty good.Ââ€
The Badgers were 3-for-6 on the power play, and held Minnesota to 1-for-4. That contributed to a huge haul the Badgers took back to Madison – coach of the year, player of the year, defensive player of the year, and a giant trophy for winning the WCHA playoff title.
Insurmountable Badger lead suddenly surmounted
What a difference two weeks can make.
Three weeks ago, Wisconsin swept Colorado College in a series at Colorado Springs, and as the Badgers returned to Madison, coach Mike Eaves stopped off in St. Paul for a Sunday night National Hockey League game at Xcel Energy Center, because Patrick Eaves, the son of Mike and Beth Eaves, was playing for Ottawa against the Minnesota Wild that Sunday night.
As the proud parents beamed, Patrick Eaves scored a first-period goal to tie the game 1-1, set up a goal to put the Senators ahead 3-1 in the second period, and scored again to make it 5-1 on the way to a 6-1 Ottawa victory. PatrickÂ’s big game was just sort of frosting on the cake of a perfect weekend, a perfect season. Things couldnÂ’t get much better than that for Mike Eaves, and the Wisconsin Badgers, both of whom were on top of the world.
At that point, the Badgers had amazingly lost only one game out of 16 played in the WCHA, and their 13-1-2 record seemed to have secured the No. 1 ranking in the nation, and the MacNaughton Cup long ahead of schedule, because no other team in the WCHA had fewer than five losses. Not only did the Badgers lead the field by eight points, they had swept contenders Minnesota, North Dakota and Colorado College – all on the road. So returning to Kohl Center would be easy.
Everybody knows about the home-ice advantage in the rugged WCHA, right?
On his way through the concourse after the Ottawa-Wild game, Mike Eaves was congratulated for the big weekend. He smiled, but Mike Eaves is nothing if not pragmatic to a fault, so it was no surprise he also cautioned that nothing was settled yet in the WCHA. There was still a long way to go, he insisted. Sounded a lot like coach-speak, because how could things be better for the Badgers?
Turns out, things couldn’t get better – but they could take a stunning and dramatic turn for the worse, and Eaves knows how delicate the balance can be in determining good luck, and winning. The caution Eaves displayed, the reluctance to count anything as solid, proved prophetic a couple days later, when star goaltender Brian Elliott injured his knee in practice. Word was, he’d be out a month, minimum.
Elliott’s loss could have been a staggering blow, since he was leading the WCHA and among the elite goaltenders in the nation, but his replacement, untried freshman Shane Connelly. played very well. It just seemed that Elliott’s injury seemed to instill the first shred of negativity experienced by the Badgers since their only previous WCHA loss – an upset at home by Michigan Tech, which was immediately overturned in a 7-0 rematch rout.
But with Connelly in and Elliott out, Denver came to Madison and won 1-0, then swept the series two weeks ago. A shred of negativity or not, it initiated a remarkable turn of fortune for Wisconsin, and for the WCHA race, which continued this past weekend.
Consider that the four hottest teams in the WCHA all went on the road last weekend, and all four of them swept two-game sets to make enormous upward moves with those road sweeps.
Denver, which rode a rocky up-and-down first half of the season, swept Wisconsin and then swept Alaska-Anchorage – both on the road – and the Pioneers now have a five-game winning streak in their march to the top.
Minnesota is the hottest of all, avenging two humiliating losses to Wisconsin at home by going into Madison for the sweep, and the Gophers now take a week off with an 11-1 record since those double losses to Wisconsin at Mariucci Arena.
In addition, St. Cloud State and Minnesota State-Mankato both have risen on the wings of hot streaks to threaten the upper division. St. Cloud State stunned North Dakota twice in Grand Forks, and the Huskies now have gone 8-1-1 in their last 10 to move into contention for a top-five finish and home-ice for the first round of playoffs. Minnesota State-Mankato swept two games from UMD in Duluth, and if the Mavericks’ 7-10-3 record doesn’t look that impressive, consider they are 8-3-1 in their last 12. To make the situation embarrassing for UMD, which has lost five in a row to teeter near the cellar, was Saturday’s 7-1 debacle in the DECC issued by Mankato.
But the spotlight clearly was on Madison, where the enormous buildup was that Madison’s Phil Kessel, who spurned Wisconsin to become the first Wisconsin-born player to ever play for Minnesota, was making his first trip back home as a rival Gopher. All the attention was an effective smoke screen when the Gophers jumped to a 5-1 lead through two periods because of Danny IrmenÂ’s hat trick, four assists from Ryan Potulny, and a goal and three assists from freshman Ryan Stoa. But Wisconsin battled back furiously, scoring three times in less than three minutes, only to see their final, six-attacker push fall short. Robbie Earl dashed through the Minnesota defense at the finish, with Connelly pulled for an extra skater, but just when it looked like Earl might be home free for a 2-on-0 with five seconds left, he was knocked off balance and the puck slid harmlessly past the net.
The 5-4 loss left encouragement in the Badger camp for the rematch, but before another 15,000-plus sellout at Kohl Center, Minnesota won again, 3-1, for the sweep. The Gopher victory was blunted only slightly when it was learned that Irmen may have suffered a shoulder injury that could knock him out for a couple of weeks. Fortunately for the Gophers, they are idle this weekend so Irmen might have time to heal a bit. Kessel, incidentally, scored a clinching goal in the second game at Wisconsin, then circled the Kohl Center rink, taunting the fans by holding his gloved hand to his ear to see if the fans were still booing him. The Badger fans, however, were stunned to silence.
In the last two weekends, Wisconsin dropped from 13-1-2 to 13-5-2, and the insurmountable Badger lead has been surmounted, as not only Minnesota, but Denver pulled into a three-way tie at the top with Wisconsin at 13-5-2. Good games, exciting games, but a Badger team that lost only once in league play in over two months had dropped four in a row, all at home.
Two weeks earlier, the WCHA race had become an interesting tangle, with Wisconsin alone at the top, CC, North Dakota, Minnesota and Denver all battling for second place, and, in the lower division, an extremely bunched group that consisted of Minnesota-Duluth, St. Cloud State, Minnesota State-Mankato, Alaska-Anchorage and Michigan Tech.
Now, the one-horse race for first is a three-way tie at 28 points, while eight points behind comes a four-team cluster that shows North Dakota, Colorado College, St. Cloud State and Mankato within three points of each other, then four points behind them, Michigan Tech, UMD, and Anchorage all within two points of each other in a battle to avoid last place.
With four series remaining in the regular season, WisconsinÂ’s schedule still appears the most favorable, although the Badgers must go to UMD, to Michigan Tech, to Mankato, and finish at home against St. Cloud State. Minnesota hopes the week off doesnÂ’t cool the sizzling streak, then goes to Tech, returns home for a huge set with Denver, then goes to Anchorage before finishing at home against arch-rival UMD. Denver has Mankato before going to Minnesota, then goes home to finish against North Dakota and the home-and-home rivalry with Colorado College.
Stay tuned.
About the Author
John Gilbert is a lifetime Minnesotan and career journalist, specializing in cars and sports during and since spending 30 years at the Minneapolis Tribune, now the Star Tribune. More recently, he has continued translating the high-tech world of autos and sharing his passionate insights as a freelance writer/photographer/broadcaster. A member of the prestigious North American Car and Truck of the Year jury since 1993. John can be heard Monday-Friday from 9-11am on 610 KDAL(www.kdal610.com) on the "John Gilbert Show," and writes a column in the Duluth Reader.
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